Finally, it is September 94th and we can prepare to turn the calendar to October. Why did September feel like it lasted for 3 months? Was it the 88 inches of rain that fell each week? Was it the endlessly cancelled soccer practices? The extreme humidity? The 42 forms you had to fill out for each kid and for each teacher, plus the nurse, plus lunch accounts, plus adding meet the teacher night and curriculum night to the calendar which already had all the practices and games and tournaments on it? Once again, September duped me. I envisioned pumpkin spiced lattes and blanket scarves on the sidelines. I pictured holding a coffee mug with two hands at the bus stop, leaves falling gently and the
Hello. Hi. Hey. How’s it going? How are you? What’s happening? What’s going on? Hola! OMG HEYYYYY! Whassssup? There are a million ways to say hello - and here’s a really, really critical reason to do so: because social isolation plays a critical role in suicides and in mass shootings. Schools nationwide and plenty in our area are participating in “Start With Hello” week this week, a nationwide initiative from Sandy Hook Promise focused on the creation of connected communities, because connected communities are safer communities. The premise is so simple it’s stupid - if you see someone alone, reach out and help, and start with hello. The program offers guidance on how to make connections an
My friend’s son FaceTimed from college the other night and within minutes, he was bickering with his sister. On FaceTime. From college. Like, WHYYYYY? Why must they be at each other all the time? I have dreams about being in the same room with my children and have them get along for more than 8 minutes. Ditto for restaurants. One minute everyone’s happily working on the children’s menu games and the next second we are arguing about cheating at tic-tac-toe. Whose turn is it to sit in the good seat (there’s a good seat?), whose turn is it to take the first shower, he said she said he did she did. Never mind the accusations about he never gets in trouble and she always gets all the attention an
Teething? It’s a phase. Climbing out of the crib? Biting? The pacifier? It’s a phase. I promise promise promise you that one day, your child will not be teething, will not have a perpetually runny nose, will sleep for hours on end, will take a bottle or give up the bottle or move on from whatever is causing the most stress du jour. Knowing this for sure - that phases come and phases go - will be your strongest asset when you attempt to parent a teenager. I’m doing this now, attempting to parent a teenager. She does not want to be parented except when she does, and then she wants like ALL THE PARENTING and support and guidance and understanding and time and of course the times she wants this
When my twins were 15 months old, I brought them to the pediatrician for a well-check. They were walking and growing fast and babbling their little heads off and when our beloved pediatrician - also a twin mom - asked me how everything was going, I burst into tears. I was mortified, but it was just.so.hard. My boys were good, easy, healthy babies and their big sister was a good, healthy, easy toddler but there were three of them, 3 and under, and there was one of me and it was just so so hard. I was - am - blessed with a ton of help and it was so hard. My husband and I had good jobs and a warm house and too much of whatever we needed (diapers alone were staggering) and it was still so hard.
